Marin Voice: Supervisor Susan Adams recall can't wait

STATE-MANDATED Housing Element law requires each city and county to identify and designate sites to allow for the development of high-density affordable housing.

Marin County has identified 546 of its required 773 sites for unincorporated Marin and placed them in one small area of District 1.

Despite possible devastating and irreversible impact to schools, services and community, there is no formal plan to incorporate this potential development. District 1 Supervisor Susan Adams counters with assurances that the sites will never be developed. How can she, or we, be so sure?

Together, these fast-track dense development and offer high-profit margins for developers — developers who are often exempt from local property taxes, and thus, don't contribute for the costs of local services.

Supervisor Adams' statements deserve scrutiny.

She states she opposes development at Rotary Field, Big Rock and Grady Ranch, as well as the current 30 units per acre urban-style density designation, but where are the actions and public record to support these words?

A demand for removal of these sites from the Housing Element and for maintaining current zoning would demonstrate commitment from Supervisor Adams.

Supervisor Adams promises full EIR review of all Housing Element inventory sites, but this is an empty promise, given that the level of environmental review is determined by the county Community Development Agency.

Add to this the state's SB375, which exempts certain project sites located within a mile of major transit from CEQA review, and the assurance is further weakened.

Supervisor Adams should know these laws; she served on Association of Bay Area Governments for nine years and as its vice president.

Our community cannot afford to rely on a supervisor who offers assurances without the requisite authority to execute, or who has reversed position in the past for political expediency (future development of St. Vincent's land or insisting on siting of the county Emergency Operations building at the Civic Center until politically expedient to move the site to Marin Commons and claim the site as her idea).

Put bluntly, the time for idle, unenforceable and transient words has passed.

We cannot risk Supervisor Adams extending her public position regarding the Bridge Housing proposal at Marinwood Plaza to Rotary, Big Rock, St. Vincent's or Grady. Her answer is she has no control over the developer a landowner picks to work with to submit an application to build on a site and she is one of five supervisors. The decision is out of my control, she says.

Rezoning of these sites, once approved, is likely irreversible. Developers, attracted by the streamlined process and higher profits afforded, will enter.

There are no guarantees Supervisor Adams will be in office, or have the will and means to fight for any personal opinion.

The recall effort serves to remind Supervisor Adams of her accountability to local constituents. We deserve a supervisor who represents local constituents, not a politician who aligns with forces outside the district, and politically maneuvers to divide and intimidate her constituents to the detriment of the very community represented.

Our schools, community and environment are worth far more than the $250,000 county-estimated cost of the recall election, and this amount pales in comparison to the amount taxpayers will have to pay in order to support these plans, and taxpayers have already spent on consultants, staff, studies, etc. to promote these plans.

What is happening to our neighborhood is only the latest in a pattern of questionable tactics employed to misinform and manipulate neighborhoods in the district.

While the primary election is scheduled for June 2014, Supervisor Adams' term does not expire until January 2015.

If we didn't face such rare and monumental risks to the community in the coming year and a half, we could wait for an election. But given the historic decisions facing our communities, waiting for proper representation is not an option.

Alissa Chacko of San Rafael is an attorney, preschool teacher, an executive member of the Dixie Home and School Club and a board member of her neighborhood association. The recall campaign's website is www.marinrecall.com.